DIY: Instagram Collage Prints

Hey guys! Wow it has been a crazy month in the Kane household! We crammed all our travel for the year into the past four weeks before Zach starts residency TOMORROW!! We had such a great time on our travels - camping on Lake Cushman, medical school graduation in Arizona, family reunion in Bend - but let me just say that this Mama is exhausted. With a capital E.

I just wanted to share a little project that is one of my favorites and is so easy to make (and cheap too!) 

Abstract Art

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! We hosted over 15 family members at our house for a big Easter Brunch/Zach's Birthday/My Birthday Extravaganza! We had a blast with our family, as always, with tons of food, games and laughs. Emerson did so well with so many people, too. Let's just say she doesn't mind being the center of attention. :)

So I've been in "nesting" mode again... No, Mom, I'm not prego. Since we are staying in Seattle for the next three years and staying in our current rental for at least another year or so, I want to get more settled and put my own stamp on this place. I've been updating the bathroom some and now I'm trying to get more art up on the walls. 

The art in our home is mostly all DIY, family photos or prints from Etsy. We don't have any official "real" artwork on the walls. Our budget just hasn't allowed it, but that's OK. Actually, I take that back. We do have a few smaller pieces that I accumulated from my travels - a watercolor of the Duomo in Firenze, a watercolor of Vernazza, Italy (Cinque Terra), an oil painting of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, spray paint art from our honeymoon in Cabo. I love these so much and they remind me of our travels every time I look at them. 

That being said, we still don't have any other "real" art that isn't of a place where we've traveled. I've been seeing a ton of inspirational abstract art on Etsy and some other blogs I read and I'm in love with it! I think it's time that I diversified a little bit. Added some abstract art to mix things up and add some color. There are some beautiful colorful pieces of art out there and the nice thing is that there is some really affordable art. It may not be the original art, but a print of the original art is just as good in my book (and much easier on my pocketbook). I rounded up some of my favorites after scoping out some other round ups like this, this, and this.

1. Britt Bass 2. Michelle Armas 3. Belinda Marshall 4. Cortney North 5. Parima Studio

I ended up buying the Michelle Armas print and I can't wait until it gets here! I'm excited to add some much needed color and texture to the walls!

What art are you digging lately? Abstract? Landscapes? Typography? If you have any other suggestions for great art, please share!

DIY Nursery Art - Hot Air Balloons

I whipped up this super easy hot air balloon art for the nursery. I already had the frame on hand courtesy of the clearance section of Target and used my favorite nursery as inspiration (from Craftiness is Not Optional). 

Supplies:

- Scrapbook paper in coordinating patterns

- Frame

- Double sided tape

- Craft glue (I used gorilla glue)

- Pen

Step 1: Cut out your balloons and baskets. I thought I had a circle punch, but couldn't find it so just traced a spool of thread and cut each little circle out by hand. I cut two circles of each pattern I wanted. I just free handed the basket and then used one as a template to cut out the rest in the brown paper.

Step 2: Figure out where you want the ballons to be (spacing, etc.) on your background paper (I just used a white piece of cardstock for the background). Then use the double sided tape to stick one of the balloons of each pattern on the background paper. Stick the baskets a little below the balloons.

Step 3: Grab your pen and draw on your balloon strings. I freehanded, but you could use a ruler too, to be extra straight.

Step 4: Glue on the top balloon piece. I first took the top circle for each balloon and bent it a little bit so it curved up. Just enough to give it a little dimension. Then I applied a thin strip of gorilla glue to the middle of the bottom circle and applied the slightly bent circle to give it the 3D effect. 

Step 5: Frame it up! After letting it dry for a good 24 hours, I put it back in the frame and hung that baby up.

Total time: about 15 min (plus drying time)

Total cost: scrapbook paper was probably a couple bucks

This was such an easy and fun project! I love how it turned out and think it will look great in the nursery, especially with the complementary hot air balloon mobile.  

I'm thinking of spray painting the frame white before I hang it in the nursery, but for now I'll leave as is. One more nursery project down!

DIY Nursery Art - Little But Fierce

I've been searching for some fun art for the nursery and found a few quotes I like (see some more from my nursery inspiration). This one is from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream and I love it. I know already that it will be just like our little BK. She's already a spicy little one, kicking me all the time!

DIY: Reindeer Glitter Art

I know, I know, I owe you guys a post or two on our new re-upholstered curvy wing back, but it's taking a while to get all our pictures loaded, edited, etc. So it will be soon! Hopefully really soon! :) I promise, the wait will be worth it.

A couple weeks ago, I whipped up this quick and easy reindeer glitter art to get in the Christmas spirit. This was a little Pinterest project I found, originally by Kelsey of the blog Daisy Dreaming (see her original post here). Notice her Anthro Inspired snow globes like I made last year? Great minds think alike!

Custom Framing - The Easy (and Cheap!) Way

Way back in the day I bought this poster of all the Seattle neighborhoods. I love it, but it took me over a year to put it in a frame so I could enjoy it on the wall. Mostly, because of the price of custom framing! It's ridiculous! 

I finally got with it and decided to figure something else out. The picture was 32x16 so I got a standard poster frame that was 24x36 - the closest I could find. From there I just went to the framing section and asked for help. I wanted a green mat that matched the green on the poster and picked the closest color. Then the lady measured the picture and we ordered the mat. 

I love how it turned out! As for cost, we probably saved at the very least, half of what it would cost to get it custom framed. 

Frame - $20

Mat - $35

Total - $55 

Only $55 for a custom frame! That's pretty sweet in my book. It did take some time to order the mat, but all in all it was a super easy way to frame an awkward sized print. 

Have you ever gotten anything framed professionally? Expensive, right? 

PS Can you believe it's November already?!?!?!

DIY: Chalkboard Window Frame

I'm really excited to share this project with you! Back around the time I went to Portland with my mom to get fabric for my wing back chair, we stopped by my Grandma and Grandpa's house and picked up a vintage dresser as well as this vintage window frame.

The picture is a lovely southwestern picture that was actually on a piece of wood nailed to the frame. My Grandma wanted the picture but said I could have the frame which I loved! My mom has one just like it in a different color and put a mirror behind the frame. My grandma had previously painted the frame with some crackle paint (remember that?) which I don't really like. For some reason though, with this frame I think it's not so bad paired with the black chalkboard. It's not overwhelmingly crackle-y, and it gives it some texture.

DIY Puppy Silhouette Portrait

Hey guys! I'm back! Do you ever have one of those weeks months where you wish there were more hours in the day? That is my life right now. I'm not complaining, I love being busy but I could definitely use a break. 

On that note, I've been on a major hang-up-art-on-the-wall kick. Creating new pieces to hang as well as acquiring a few more. It's not like we've had bare walls for the past year, but I guess my Goodwill frame addiction started growing a little too big to not hang anything else on the walls. 

Today I want to share with you how to make your very own silhouette portrait! I made it of my sweet puppy Buster (uh, crazy dog lady alert!), but you could make it of your kids, cat, rabbit, anything. It's super easy!

Framing A Scarf (the Hard Way)

Have you ever had one of those projects that just takes you forever? You either don't know how to approach it, or you're just not motivated enough to get in to it? For me, that project was framing this scarf.

I got it at Forever 21 of all places for less than $5 back in September(ish). I kind of fell in love with all the colors and the pattern. I immediately knew I wanted to frame it and put it on the wall somewhere. But.... how? That was the question. The scarf is too big for regular sized frames and although it looks square in shape, it isn't perfect because well, it's a scarf. 

$1 Art

Keeping with the theme of the dollar section at Michael's this week, I wanted to share a quick art project I did a while back. I found this brass gem after a little digging in the dollar section. It was mixed in with a jumble of different letters and I prayed that they had one of our letters - K (Kane), M (Megan), Z (Zachary), B (Buster). Jackpot! We got ourselves a K (Go Team Kane!). 

I'm not sure what the purpose of the little guy actually is (maybe a metal luggage tag? or to spell out your name on the outside of your house?), but I wanted to frame it and put it up somewhere. All it needed was a little color. Cue my trusty collection of scrapbook paper. I loved the pattern of the dark blue and jade paper (can you tell those are my favorite colors right now?:), but it was a little too busy behind the brass letter. So, I settled on just the solid jade to go with my IKEA frame. I love the way it turned out. 

Simple and interesting. I love it when you can find inexpensive and unique ways to create beautiful things!